I had a pretty cool brush with nature Sunday night. I'm sitting on the front porch and there's a cat crouched in the driveway, looking ready to pounce on this little ball looking thing. Then the ball looking thing starts to make these clicking noises, so I'm all intrigued & walk over to see what's up. It's a baby owl - they live in one of the trees next to the street - & the clicking was him snapping his beak together. I shoo the cat away, go get some gloves & check the little guy out to see if he's hurt or what. Sometimes birds need a few hours to get it together after leaving the nest, since they really don't understand the whole "You mean I can fly?" thing. So I don't know what to really do with an owl, cause you can't really keep 'em around & stuff, not good pets, owls. I didn't want to take him inside, I had visions of him realizing he can fly & me chasing him around the house trying to shoo him out with a broom. Can't leave him there though, he'd be cat food or my roommate would pancake him pulling into the driveway. So, to make a long story just a tad bit longer, I get a metal washtub & put a towel inside, pick up the little guy (he didn't try to scratch or bite, just made more clicks - he did take a crap on my hand though, can't blame him he was probably scared you-know-what-less). Put the tub on top of the grill & I figured if he can't get out by morning he's hurt & I'll take him to the wildlife rehab place. So I'm chilling later, smoking a cig, and he pops up onto the edge of the tub, takes a look around, and flies over to a tree. That made me happy. So this morning when I got back from the gym, I hear more clicking on the porch, and there's the kid owl again. Then I hear lots more clicking from the magnolia tree on my left, so I look up and about 2 feet from my face are momma & poppa owl. I got a cup of coffee & went back outside for a smoke. We had a nice chat, I informed them that they will bend to my wishes & do my bidding, like the owls in Harry Potter. They were unresponsive. Nature rocks. Anyone else run into any cool critters?
That is soooo cool. My son has been discovering bugs lately. We found a cool crab spider that we look at every chance we get. we also caught these two little yellow bugs that are segmented like rolly pollies, but on each segment, they have a spike on each end. Weird things. My cats about to have kittens, and my son REALLY wants to see that happen, but I know she'll probably go under the house to have them. I won a bunny at the rodeo a few months back, and the kids love playing with him. My son named him Bunny Foo-Foo. After Hurrican Allen many years ago, me and my friend rescued three Harris hawks that feel out of their nest. Beautiful birds!!! The other day, after leaving Mr Gattis with my family, we say a couple of Jack Rabbits in the brushy area by the playcenter. Damn, I had forgotten how big those things were. Nature is soooo cool!!!
I remember picking up a grass snake and scaring the hell out of my wife with it...She won't let me have a pet python for some weird reason...
You've also got a rabbit named Bunny Foo-Foo? Hey no fair, I took that name first! I've also got a cat named "Kitty Boo Boo" and a dog named "Doggy Goo Goo". I've got such a warm place in my heart for cute pets with cute names.
I beleive that it's called a black witch...legend has it as not a good sign... Did it look like this?
dude... no pictures? here's some big city nature found this sucker on my front door one day when i got home from work... i knew the actual name of it at one time, i have since forgotten... it is cool though... those aren't it's eyes btw.
Great story Buck! My last run in with nature was with a nutria. Mind you, I've never seen a nutria or even heard of one before. I was taking out the trash and I saw what looked like a huge mound of dirt. Then it started moving, it had a tail and a body of a big rat, but it turned around and had the face of a beaver! It had mangled teeth and it's hair looked dirty and nappy. We caught eyes. I froze, it froze. Then I walked the other way and waited until next trash day to take out the trash. After some research, I found out ppl eat these things!!
Seriously though, I figured that since FT has a little boy, it was probably the little boy who named the rabbit. Ya think?
My house is on a 1/4 acre lot, and my backyard is huge. Three years ago, I carved out a 100 sq. ft. (10 X 10 square) plot and I have been growing vegetables on it ever since. I planted at the beginning of March, and things are starting to pop. This year, to keep the birds away, I decided to hang a bird feeder next to the garden. The past two years I used birdblock, a plastic mesh that you cover the plants with. Sometimes the birds were still able to get in. Anyway, since I hung the feeder, I have been getting a ton of wild birds in my backyard. Cardinals that run the color gamut from bright red to brown, lots of Blue Jays, and lots of doves. They haven't pecked at my vegetables yet, because apparently birds will always go after birdseed instead of vegetables. Last Sunday morning, I went into the kitchen and made coffee around 9AM. The bird feeder hangs just outside the kitchen window. After about 5 minutes, I noticed I didn't hear any birds chirping, so I went outside. And there they were...three neighborhood cats lying on the lawn near the garden, waiting to go bird hunting. I shooed them away and the birds came back within a minute. Haven't found any dead birds yet but I probably will.
Sorry rH, digital camera's broke. Here's what they look like though: Western Screech Owl Cool pics, man. Lots of bugs have fake eye looking things on their bodies to distract predators & influence them to attack a less vital part of their body & not the head. Nutria suck. Non-native & pretty much worthless. Not sure why anyone would want to eat one.
No doubt! Poor Trader compared to a masterpiece movement that has nothing to do with stocks or the republican agenda
Louisiana has a big problem with nutria. Before they sent out boat crews to exterminate with extreme prejudice, they actually had a contest to see who could cook the tastiest nutria... i shi'ite you not... link - honest... a link!! and another one!!
Nice story. Here is my urban wildlife story... About a year ago at about 2 in the morning my dogs tree'd a opossum on a small (2 inch diameter) tree just outside my bedroom window. After yelling at the dogs to shut up I went out in my boxers to see what all the barking was about. I discovered the opossum perched upon this way too small tree at the edge of my fence line hissing at the dogs and wishing he could get away. I pulled the dogs away and waited for the opossum to go down the tree and get away but he just kept hissing so I retreived a shovel from under the house and jabbed at the opossum a couple times which just pissed him off even more. I took the shovel and went babe ruth on the opossum which sent the tree bending toward the ground then it flexed and came right back at me, opossum still attached, and I had to jump out of the way. Next time I stepped into the swing and the opossum dropped onto the ground about 5 feet on the other side of the chain fence, but instead of running off under the neighbors house he laid there and continued to hiss at the dogs. I went out of my yard and into the neighbors yard and was smacked the ground right by the opossom a couple times and he scurried off under the neighbors house. Just then the neighbors porch light came on and my neighbor came out and I was standing there like an idiot in my boxers with a shovel in my hands.
